Whether you’re a retailer or a B2B company, exceptional customer experiences are what keep people coming back. But if you can’t deliver the seamless service they expect, your customers will simply take their business elsewhere.
In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of omnichannel selling and the tremendous opportunity it represents.
We’ll also look at why your integration strategy is critical to enabling those seamless experiences, and how you can maximize the benefits while minimizing risk by building a streamlined omnichannel supply chain.
What makes omnichannel selling so different?
Omnichannel selling is all about delivering great buying experiences for customers. By offering convenient services that connect physical and online touchpoints, businesses can keep their customers satisfied and, ideally, prevent them from turning to competitors.
The convenience of Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPIS), in-store returns, home delivery, showrooming (trying in-store, buying online), and other services can help retailers retain existing customers and expand their market share. This strategy also creates new opportunities to leverage insights, as retailers can use data from multiple touchpoints and sources to deliver personally relevant promotions or recommendations.
However, omnichannel selling comes with its share of technical challenges especially for companies that have traditionally operated as brick-and-mortar retailers or B2B wholesalers. Processes need to evolve and be supported by making the right data available at the right time.
You’ll also need close collaboration between your various distribution channels. This can be difficult, as these channels are often managed by completely different systems. Integrating all of these systems is essential.
And for it to work effectively, your omnichannel integration must be seamless. A unified data strategy and a robust integration solution are required to break down silos, optimize supply chains, and coordinate operations across multiple facilities.
The importance of context in customer experiences
When data from different systems is used together, it can provide valuable context — which is essential for delivering the seamless services customers expect. This is especially relevant in omnichannel sales, where you need visibility across warehouses, physical stores, and e-commerce channels.
Every day, large amounts of data are routinely collected and stored in Point of Sale (POS) systems, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms, production planning software, e-commerce channels, and various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. These systems have limited ability to share data with one another. They often lack the integrations needed to synchronize multiple data sources and leverage that data to drive new and improved processes.
For example, if you want to offer services such as “reserve an item” or “Buy Online, Pick Up In Store” (BOPIS), your in-store inventory must also be accessible to your online channels.
Similarly, if you want to give customers the convenience of returning online purchases in-store, or partially shipping an order (for instance, when there isn’t enough stock available for an in-store purchase), all relevant data must flow seamlessly between e-commerce systems, fulfillment providers, customer service software, POS systems, and payment providers.
Promotions and offers are also more effective when personalized using contextual demographic data from a CRM, combined with information from POS and e-commerce systems about previous purchases.
All of these processes rely on breaking down silos through well-managed integrations that share and transform data where needed. Without this, launching new services or initiatives becomes impossible.
Missed opportunities: the real cost of data silos
In addition to hindering the implementation of new strategic initiatives, a lack of integration prevents retailers from using their data to understand customer behavior or gain insights into their operations.
Data silos can cost a business money in several ways:
- Achieving customer engagement becomes more difficult without the contextual information needed to encourage purchases and build loyalty.
- Marketing opportunities are missed, and recommendations may be irrelevant or poorly targeted for individual customers.
- Out-of-stock situations occur more frequently due to a lack of visibility. This disappoints customers and reduces loyalty. Capital is used inefficiently, and profit margins erode due to overstocking and the absence of real-time demand visibility.
- Return data cannot be leveraged to drive improvements.
- Omnichannel fulfillment services like BOPIS become error-prone and inefficient without automated data flows between e-commerce and other systems.
To support better customer experiences, you need a complete overview of all touchpoints from production and distribution to the customer across online, physical, and hybrid sales that connect the two.
What’s possible with unified data in omnichannel supply chains
Data is incredibly valuable but like any currency, its true worth is only realized when it’s put to use. When data is freed from silos, it allows a business to extract even more value from it repeatedly across multiple processes.
By combining data from multiple contexts, retailers gain a clearer picture of their operations, enabling them to:
- Optimize and reduce inventory while increasing revenue and profit margins.
- Streamline and improve operations at every level by anticipating demand and optimizing staffing and store layouts.
- Use customer data to detect fraud or apply more advanced, nuanced customer segmentation to create personalized promotions.
- Adjust prices in real time to stay aligned with the broader market.
- Operate more sustainably by reducing excess inventory and adopting energy-efficient processes through accurate demand forecasting.
There are also additional business opportunities but these can only be realized if data is efficiently exchanged across multiple systems.
Scalable integration unlocks new business opportunities
Imagine you want to partner with an external fulfillment provider to expand your capacity during peak periods, or when stock runs out at another location. This would require integrations between your own backend systems (ERP, PIM, WMS), your e-commerce platform, and your partner’s systems.
Alternatively, you might want to use an AI chatbot for customer service. In this case, you may need to connect to sources such as past order information, CRM data, inventory, financial software, and other systems.
It may seem like a lot, but when managed efficiently, creating a new connection can be quick and reliable.
Instead of spending many months building a custom ERP integration, an integration platform such as Boomi or WSO2 can enable you to do it in just a few weeks — while ensuring data quality throughout the process.
Examples of successful omnichannel integration:
- Amazon uses a variety of internal and external data sources to deliver relevant purchase recommendations that boost sales.
- Starbucks leverages data from its app, POS systems, and external sources to align its supply chain with promotions, personalized recommendations, and customer demand. Its loyalty program accounts for half of all purchases in the U.S.
- Office Depot uses supply chain data to ensure customers can always get the products they need reducing inventory levels by 30% in just two years.
- Walmart uses AI and data from browsing history and past purchases to provide personalized recommendations. It also uses real-time competitor pricing data to remain competitive across both e-commerce and physical channels.
In all these examples, some form of application and/or data integration serves as the underlying engine driving their success.
Mastering omnichannel sales with minimal risk
Omnichannel initiatives come with risks, and it’s impossible to predict which new channels or processes will succeed.
For example, your products might underperform on one marketplace but thrive on another. You may also find opportunities to cut costs by switching fulfillment or logistics partners. For this reason, it’s important to start small and target each new process or channel one at a time.
Iterative experimentation is a key part of achieving success with an omnichannel strategy, which means creating and managing new integrations must be simple and efficient. This is another reason why many companies choose an iPaaS solution.
This approach also helps reduce risk, as it allows you to focus on optimizing each new channel before moving on to the next. By doing so, you can prevent bottlenecks that may occur when online sales outpace your fulfillment capacity or available inventory.
Given the importance of delivering great customer experiences, starting small and doing it right is the best way to reduce risk. This is another reason why an integration platform is so valuable it enables you to build new integrations quickly. With a shorter time-to-market, you can experiment without the same sunk costs that come with expensive custom integrations.
Additionally, an integration platform provides the flexibility to disengage from channels more easily when built in a loosely coupled way. This makes it simpler to make decisions about integrations with different partners without the risk of vendor lock-in or the need for long-term commitments.
If you’re interested in optimizing your omnichannel strategy, Yenlo has extensive experience helping organizations break down their data silos and integrate their IT infrastructure. When you’re ready to implement a future-proof integration strategy, our integration experts can help you design a scalable plan tailored to your organization’s needs.
